According to earlier reports, Alyssa Edwards went to work, leaving the two kids alone. At some point, the boy got a .22-caliber rifle and shot his 4-year-old sister four times. She was struck in the leg, arm and abdomen.

The boy contacted his mother at work. She cleaned the girl's wounds, bandaged them and went back to work for an hour, a caseworker said.

Allison Stigall, the investigator on the case, provided more details about what happened. She was the lone witness called Thursday.

Alyssa Edwards took her daughter to the hospital when the child began urinating through a bullet wound in her abdomen later in the day. Stigall asked her about the delay in reporting.

"She was afraid the family would lose their guns, that they hunted and that was a food source for them," Stigall said.